Court sentences Jamaican drug boss to 37 years
Fri May 23, 5:12 PM ET
A Jamaican designated by the White House as an international drug kingpin was sentenced to nearly 37 years in prison on Friday for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States, prosecutors said.
Leebert Ramcharan led a sophisticated smuggling ring that received in Jamaica as much as 15 metric tons of cocaine from Columbia between 1998 and 2004, prosecutors said. The cocaine was transported by speedboat and airplane to the Bahamas and ultimately to the U.S. market.
The Colombian national police, Jamaican Constabulary Force, Royal Bahamian Police and U.S. authorities were involved in the investigation of Ramcharan's organization. He was arrested in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 2004 and extradited to the United States in 2007.
Ramcharan was convicted by a jury in March of conspiracy to import and conspiracy to possess narcotics with the intent to distribute.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz sentenced Ramcharan to 440 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami said.
(Reporting by Jim Loney; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Fri May 23, 5:12 PM ET
A Jamaican designated by the White House as an international drug kingpin was sentenced to nearly 37 years in prison on Friday for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States, prosecutors said.
Leebert Ramcharan led a sophisticated smuggling ring that received in Jamaica as much as 15 metric tons of cocaine from Columbia between 1998 and 2004, prosecutors said. The cocaine was transported by speedboat and airplane to the Bahamas and ultimately to the U.S. market.
The Colombian national police, Jamaican Constabulary Force, Royal Bahamian Police and U.S. authorities were involved in the investigation of Ramcharan's organization. He was arrested in Montego Bay, Jamaica, in 2004 and extradited to the United States in 2007.
Ramcharan was convicted by a jury in March of conspiracy to import and conspiracy to possess narcotics with the intent to distribute.
U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz sentenced Ramcharan to 440 months in prison, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami said.
(Reporting by Jim Loney; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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